Where was this version of Chuck Schumer in March?
It is good for the tens of millions of people who are about to see their health insurance premiums skyrocket that Schumer 2.0 is here now, but he should have been at this point the whole time.
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On Meet The Press, Schumer was asked if he different position on the shutdown was due to Democratic pressure and he responded to Trump’s threat that there would be massive firings of government workers if the government shuts down by saying:
We’re hearing from the American people that they need help on health care.
And as for these massive layoffs, guess what? Simple, one-sentence answer: they’re doing it anyway. There’s no shutdown. They’re laying off all these people. The budget they’ve proposed says another 300,000 federal workers should be laid off. They laid off 80,000 in the Veterans Administration. They’re trying to intimidate the American people and us.
But the bottom line is, if they fire all these people — first, the courts have brought a lot of them back because what they did was illegal. And second, there’s such pressure on them not to do it because of the harm it causes people that they back off. Originally, they fired 80,000 from the Veterans Administration; now it’s 30,000. That’s still bad, but it shows you the heat is on them when they do this. And the American people won’t like it at all.
Schumer also said that nothing will get done in the meeting on Monday if Trump shows up and does nothing, but rant and rave.
Sen. Schumer said that government funding bills have traditionally been passed in a bipartisan manner. There is no such thing as take it or leave it. If Republicans insist on going it alone, the government shutdown will be on them.
Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer have done a good job of putting the pressure on Trump, Johnson, and Thune. The Republicans know that they will get blamed for a shutdown.
The suspicion is that Trump is going to try to use the Monday meeting to make Democrats look unreasonable, but Trump and his party are fighting a losing battle.
The notices for health insurance premium increases are going to start going out this week. Republicans will be blamed for those increases.
Trump and his party don’t have any cards to play, and Democrats aren’t buying Trump’s threats and bluster.
So far, Democrats are playing their hand well. It is a complete reversal from March, and Republicans don’t seem to have caught on yet that they have already lost.
What do you think about the evolved Chuck Schumer? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
